lO 



all doinesticated species bein<^ regarded wkh 

 peculiar favour, and commonly selected as 

 gifts to Royalty, and as cerenKjnial tribute 

 when state or tribe was required to acknow- 

 ledge suzerainty. Mr. Walker asserts also, 

 that only men of the highest rank were 

 permitted to ride white horses on state 

 occasions. That the use of a white steed 

 implied dignity is well shown by the treat- 

 ment accorded John of France by Edward 

 the Black Prince when he conducted the 

 French King to London. Anxious that the 

 captive should appear not as a prisoner but 

 as a royal guest, John " was clad in royal 

 robes, and was mounted on a white steed, 

 distinguished by its beauty and size ; whilst 

 the conqueror, in meaner attire, was carried 

 by his side on a black palfrey." Richard 

 Berenger, gentleman of the horse to George 

 III., who wrote The History and Art of 

 Horsemanship, pubHshed 1771, observes 

 that "The King of Naples at this day pays 

 an annual fief of a white horse to the See 

 of Rome as acknowledgment for the king- 

 dom which he holds from the Pope." Thus 

 we see that the ceremonial value of the 

 white horse was both ancient and lasting. 

 We must not, however, allow this point to 

 detain us. 



